


And Stars Chasing Suns

by starbboy



Series: waiting for it, that green light [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Green Lantern - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Injury, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, confessing my love for guy gardner using a third party, cursing again bc i can't not and innuendos too, hal figures out he's gay and useless and then doesn't bother to change his ways, no beta we die like jason todd, pizza is actually something that can be so personal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbboy/pseuds/starbboy
Summary: Speak of the devil and he shall appear apparently, because at that moment the door is pushed open to reveal bright light that makes Hal wince and Guy Gardner leaning against the door frame in all his ginger glory, a couple of garishly coloured plasters tacked onto his face and arms.Hal is suddenly acutely aware that he was sitting in the other man’s bed in only his boxers, the duvet being the sole saviour of his dignity. The bemusedly fond look Guy’s giving him is not help matters in the slightest.aka Hal gets thrown into a wall, meets Guy's roommate no one knows about and has a revelation about his feelings in the span of about three days. He needs a nap.
Relationships: Guy Gardner & Jason Todd, Guy Gardner/Hal Jordan
Series: waiting for it, that green light [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774906
Comments: 31
Kudos: 299





	And Stars Chasing Suns

**Author's Note:**

> finally some good fuckin romance. well not good considering this is just 17k of hal being dumb. i don't know why this got so long, hal just really likes to monolougue  
> also as a side note; the injuries is innacurate. alien technology is my excuse. i spent more time researching american words for cooking than i did researching the injury so pls don't expect accuracy  
> as always please enjoy

The battle was a relatively simple one, a pretty uncoordinated weak alien invasion. The main thing these aliens had going for them was that they were 15 feet tall and had massive fucking clubs for hands. Which, if Hal were to give his two cents, is a pretty good advantage. 

The Justice League had trickled in slowly to fight them, Barry first, since they had landed in Central, then Ollie and Dinah who were working a case across town. They were the ones who called the Lanterns, Guy and Hal arriving in a matter of minutes, leaving John and Kyle to recover from their exhausting month long diplomatic mission. Most of the League had shown up by now, Spooks and J’onn weren’t there, but they could deal.

It would have been a lot easier if Hal’s ring had more power though. It had already been low on juice when they left Oa and the battle had in no way helped it recharge. Hal was really hoping Superman could bust out one of his powers and make them flee quickly because Hal did not want to tap out mid fight.

He was firing green bolts at the aliens' chests when Guy flew past him yelling “Check your left Jordan” before creating a sword and swinging it. A lot more accurately than he had last time Hal noticed, that was odd. Guy never really trained, usually he picked up the skills in the heat of battle, and improvised, he was more of a brawler, using his constructs as defence or to help his fists punch. His strikes now seemed trained though, where had he picked up sword fighting?

Guy twisted back to grin at him before flying off, and Hal turned back to his lot just to see a hand grab his legs and throw him into a building.

A concrete, hard building.

Fucking Ouch.

He picked himself up slowly, all of his limbs working, to look down and see a worryingly large gash in his side. Shit _._ The ring protected him from some damage but it didn’t work as well on low power. 4% power to be exact. _Shit._

Limping slightly, he floated up and blasted two of them in the head knocking them straight out. There were only a few left luckily which were being swiftly dealt with by less injured heroes. Guy landed next to him.

“All done, Supes and Arrow are dealing with clean-up, we’ve just gotta let the Guardians kn- Holy fuck Hal! You alright?” Guy exclaimed, reaching gently for his hip.

“Mm. Let’s go back to Oa.” Hal replied, batting his hands away and flying unsteadily.

“Sure, but you’re letting me check that out when we get there.” Guy wrapped his arm gently around Hal to steady him. Which was nice, Guy was warm. 

The two flew upwards carefully. A bit too slowly for Hal’s liking but his ring was on 1% so he couldn’t move much faster. Hm. Maybe he should have mentioned that to Guy.

As he blacked out, collapsing into Guy who started yelling his name he realised Guy would have figured it out soon anyway.

* * *

Jason was proud to announce he was actually home the second time a passed out lantern came through the apartment window. He was surprised that the lantern in question was Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan in the arms of a very panicked Guy. 

Jason jumped up when Guy flew through the window, opening it with a weak construct and knocking over a few plants as he maneuvered Hal inside. Rest in Peace Fuckface McTodd-Gardner, Jason thought, you lasted six months longer than expected, before running to get the first aid kit he stocked and one Guy’s rattier, less cared for blankets to put Hal on while he worked.

It wasn’t a deep cut, just particularly bloody, Hal had likely passed out from exhaustion and apparently getting thrown at a wall rather than blood loss. It was easily patched up. The situation was made a little awkward by Guy hanging out in the background nervously, rambling about the battle. At some point Jason instructed him to patch up his wounds and go to the pharmacy for back up supplies to help him calm down slightly.

Jason had finished stitching him up just when Guy arrives back so he enlisted Guy (and Guy’s now fully charged) to help him carry Hal to Guy’s bedroom, closing the blinds and leaving a note and some painkillers on the table before shutting the door and moving back to the living space. 

Turning to Guy he says, “It’ll leave a scar, but ‘m pretty sure he’ll be fine. Lucky it wasn’t on his ass, that would have been a lot worse.” Jason tries to joke. Guy snorts weakly, not looking much happier, causing Jason to sigh and pull the older man in for a hug.

“How are you?” 

Guy pulls back to look at him mock critically. “Stressed”

Jason chuckles, “Okay then smart ass, how have you _been?”_

“Good, stopped a couple uprisings. Caught up with folks. Helped out with trainin’. Wasn’t too busy.”

“That sounds busy to me.” Jason answers lightly, moving round Guy to clean up Fuckface McTodd-Gardner’s remains along with the corpses of his friends.

“You go tell the others about the situation with your boy in there while I make some food, yeah?” Jason smiles at the way Guy’s face reddens slightly. “He have any dietary restrictions?”

“Nah, though he does seem to be allergic to communicating about his power levels.” Guy grumbles.

“You can yell at him when he wakes up, go call John.” Jason replies, binning the destroyed plants and bumping Guy’s hip to shoo him away.

“Fine, fine call me if you need any help, Jace.”

Jason will not be doing that, but he doesn’t say it out loud, Guy looks dead on his feet, from both stress and the battle. Jason knows that he won’t be up for taking a nap, but the least the man can do is clean up and sit down. He doesn’t need the added task of cooking.

Jason wouldn’t let him into the kitchen anyway. Tired Guy is more of a hindrance and hazard than a help and Jason doesn’t need two injured Lanterns and a damaged kitchen on his hands. He’d only just finished re-organizing it.

* * *

Hal wakes up in a dark room. He’s lying on an extremely comfortable bed - the only thing stopping him from sinking straight back down to sleep is the fact that he doesn’t know where he is. On the bedside cabinet next to him there’s a glaring alarm clock that reads _19.07_ along with a note and a glass of water. It’s too dark to read the note so he apprehensively drinks the water and sits up, planning to use context clues to figure out where he is. 

As he sits up he hits his side and winces, although when he looks down he sees it completely bandaged up, there is no blood on the bandage and when he unwraps it the main wound is revealed to be completely stitched up, slightly clumsily but it does the trick, he supposes he’ll just have a new scar there. The stitches are accompanied by a collection of vicious looking bruises and smaller patched up scrapes that wind around his waist and stomach, trailing down his left leg.

He hoped wherever he was had stocked up on arnica because holy fuck that was a lot of purple.

His eyes eventually adjust to the darkness and he was able to make out most of the room. It was pretty neat, in a cluttered way. There were piles of clothes folded up on the dresser and little trinkets placed around strategically. Hal spotted a doll version of both John and Jessica which made him laugh. Doll-Jess was positioned carefully so she was sitting on Doll-John’s shoulders. There were a couple pride flags hung up on the walls, a gay pride one and what he assumed to be the pan one (Guy had said he was pan, hadn’t he?) as well as a few smaller ones strewn as well.

The last thing he could make out was a baseball poster for the Baltimore Orioles - oh, this Guy’s apartment then. Yeah that made sense, Guy was the other Green Lantern at the fight, wasn’t he? Hal tried to think back to this morning, exhaustion making his memories slightly foggy. 

That was right, he had collapsed on Guy who had apparently brought him back to his apartment to stitch him up. He didn’t know Guy knew how to perform stitches. All of the Green Lanterns knew basic first aid, just in case they were stranded alone or stuck with a bunch of aliens who didn’t know how to fix a human, John had made sure of it, even teaching Simon and Jess, who spent most of their time on Earth. Simon had his healing powers as well so Hal thought it was a little excessive but he wasn’t going to stop John. Better safe than sorry and all that. Still, stitches were advanced, he knew John could perform them but he’d never bothered to make the Earth Lanterns learn that, it was a surprise that Guy could.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear apparently, because at that moment the door is pushed open to reveal bright light that makes Hal wince and Guy Gardner leaning against the door frame in all his ginger glory, a couple of garishly coloured plasters tacked onto his face and arms.

Hal is suddenly acutely aware that he was sitting in the other man’s bed in only his boxers, the duvet being the sole saviour of his dignity. The bemusedly fond look Guy’s giving him is not help matters in the slightest.

Guy’s eyes flick down to his torso and Hal feels his face heat up, but Guy just clicks his tongue softly and snorts.

“Ya weren’t s’posed to take the bandage off, Hal.” Guy smiles, Baltimore accent abnormally quiet but filling the room, nonetheless. His slightly overgrown red hair standing out starkly against the dim light beyond the door.

“Right.” Hal croaks. “Sorry.”

“No biggie.” Guy shrugs, moving to turn on one of the bedside lamps before grabbing some clothes from one of the precarious towers on the dresser. “‘S good to see you up, how’re ya feelin’?”

“Like I got thrown into a wall.” Hal replies, leaning back against the headboard.

Guy snorts. “Surprise, that is, I let John know what’s up, he’s given ya time off till ya heal. Your stitches look fine, though I don’t know jack ‘bout that kinda thing so I could be horribly wrong. Jace said he’d check them before dinner if that’s okay.”

“Jace?”

Guy looks confused for a bit before laughing. “Oh, right. Forgot I hadn’t told ya about him. Jason Todd, my roommate and the guy who patched up all your injuries.”

Now that Guy mentioned it, Hal could faint humming and some clattering from what was presumably the kitchen. Guy had never mentioned a roommate before and Hal recognised the name.

“Jason. Todd - wait! The Red Hood? You live with the Red Hood. Guy what the fuck!” Hal whispers, panicked.

“I live with the Red Hood.” Guy replies, raising his eyebrow slightly at the hysterics. “Jace is a good kid Hal, he's gone through some stuff so he can be a bit jumpy but he’s sweet. A lotta stuff the Bats’ve said ‘bout him isn’t right or ‘s an exaggeration. He was the one who fixed up your gash.” Guy gestures at Hal’s side. A defensive edge creeping into his tone.

“Okay...yeah, I was just surprised, Roy likes him and he pisses off Spooky so he’s cool to me.” Hal reassures him, surprised at how quickly Guy jumps to defend him, though Guy’s always openly stood strong by his beliefs, so maybe he shouldn’t be shocked. “How’d you end up living with him anyway?”

“‘S a long story, maybe don’t mention Bats to him though, yeah? They’re not on good terms.” Guy’s smile goes cold for a second before switching back to normal. “Here are some clothes, your T-Shirt and trousers were pretty much ruined thanks to the blood, jackets fine though, it’s hangin’ up outside. Bathrooms on your left if ya need it. Jace’ll probably come check on you in five. You need anythin’?”

“No, I’ll be fine, thanks Guy.” Hal smiles, failing to duck as Guy hits him gently before walking out and closing the door halfway.

From beyond the door he hears a surprisingly young voice, presumably Jason say, “Guy, if you try to sneak up on me, I’ll burn your pizza and cover it in chilli oil.” before Guy fake groans and laughs. They seem comfortable with each other, Hal wonders how long they've been living together. Roy didn’t mention it last time they met up, but they don’t really talk about the Red Hood. Hal’s never been to Guy’s apartment before so it could have been a while. 

He’s a bit offended Guy had never told him about his roommate. Although he doesn’t think John or Kyle know either, so he supposes it’s not out of lack of trust. Maybe it’s on the Red Hood’s side of things. A crime lord vigilante assassin is probably in the habit of keeping his location on the downlow. It shocks him a bit that the man has managed to settle, Roy had mentioned he never liked to stay in one place for too long.

He’s never met the Red Hood personally but from what he’s heard he knows the guy’s a character. He had that team a while back with the alien princess and Roy which Roy had said was fun, though they’d broken it up when they got bored of the revenge schtick. Still, stayed in contact though. He was also pretty sure Kyle had worked with the anti-hero a couple years ago, although he never really spoke of the experience. Hal wasn’t really in contact with any of the Bats (except the big man himself, and he wasn’t one to gossip) so he didn’t know what the guy had been up to lately. He hadn’t done anything worthy of being talked about recently.

He wiggles around for a bit pulling the sweatpants and T-Shirt on in an ungraceful fashion. His limbs are stiff and they hurt to move, he’ll be fine in a day or so but right now he’s really feeling the damage of being tossed like a rag doll. The clothes are a bit baggy, hanging off his frame slightly. Guy’s bulkier than him and taller too, so it makes sense. The clothes smell like Guy as well, the cheap shower gel he uses, smog and also, inexplicably pancakes. It’s oddly comforting. Cosy in its own way. Was that weird? Was it creepy that he was over analysing how Guy smelt? Probably. He should stop.

Luckily, his thought process was interrupted by Jason sticking his head in the room slightly awkwardly. Looking slightly relieved (presumably to find Hal fully clothed and also not bleeding). 

Jason has a sweet face. Hal had seen a few pictures of him from Roy and remembered him vaguely when he’d met the kid as Robin, but the Red Hood was apparently either slightly camera shy or one of those cryptid types, all of Roy’s pictures of him being blurry or undefined. Looking at him now Hal notices he had freckles, not as many as Guy but there were certainly a good few, scattered along his nose and cheeks as well as a trail of them curling around his eyes, slightly reminiscent of a mask - Hal thought ironically. He had a strong jawline, but a less defined, childish button nose which made him look younger. His eyes were a startling green, exuding exhaustion. Hal could easily see how the boy’s features, despite being surprisingly soft, could be twisted into something harsher, more brutal and more reminiscent of the world's perception of the Red Hood, the few times the crime lord had taken his mask off for the world to see.

Jason smiles slightly apologetically at Hal, moving further into the room to reveal he was wearing some old Hoodie with the University of Michigan logo that was clearly Guy’s and holding a scrappy looking first aid kit in one hand.

“Hey.” Jason begins awkwardly. “How are you feeling?”

“Like shit.” Hal answers, which must break the ice a bit because Jason replies with “No really? And here I thought passing out injured was the best experience ever!”

Hal immediately decides he likes this kid. He’s got a healthy amount of snark. 

Jason moves to switch the main light on before frowning slightly. “Do you think you’ll be good to walk? Lighting’s better in the living room.”

“Yeah probably, you mind giving me a hand?” Jason nods and pulls Hal up, watching warily as he winces and offering him his shoulder to lean on as they walk to the living room.

Walking through it Hal sees the appeal of the place. The living room, dining room and kitchen are all merged into an open space, a small bar area separating the kitchen. There are shelves of books and bowls and other random items hung up around, giving Hal the feeling of organised chaos, there’s no rhyme or reason to what's there, but Guy knows where it is. His table is small and wooden, there are a few watermarks but otherwise it seems pretty unused, especially compared to the kitchen bar and coffee table. 

The kitchen itself is small but neat, Hal figures that that was more Jason’s doing than Guy’s though, he’s been in the man’s sector house - it can be an awful mess sometimes. All in all the place feels simple and homey, which made sense, out of all of the lanterns, Guy was the one who craved a space to exist freely and settle, just a place to get comfortable - he was the one who created a place to live in out of everywhere they went rather than somewhere to exist. John and Hal still had old habits from the air force and marines in place, all they needed was a functional space, and Kyle was never too fussed about lodgings.

The one thing that does throw Hal off is the number of empty plant pots, or pots holding dead plants. There are several of them, placed on the shelves, cabinets and window sills, Hal even spots one behind the TV. It’s exactly the kind of thing Guy would do, just to set visitors on edge, but it confuses Hal, nonetheless.

They settle down on the worn out couch and Jason silently sets off to work. He’s surprisingly gentle, especially for someone considered a ruthless killer, poking around the bruises carefully trying not to hurt Hal. Jason has this adorable look on his face while he concentrates as well, brows furrowed and nose scrunched up slightly, it reminds him of Kyle or Helen when they’re drawing. 

Guy comes in at some point, humming obnoxiously, wearing only a shirt and boxers (which, Hal thinks, is honestly pretty good for Guy Gardner’s standards). Jason just sighs fondly, he must be used to this if he lives with Guy, before glaring at the man in question.

“Guy. Put on some pants please, you aren’t eating dinner in your underwear.” His smile contradicts the disapproving tone of voice he uses.

“I thought you liked my legs Jace!” They are nice legs, Hal realizes and then immediately tries to forget thinking that, trying to stop his face from turning red. They’re covered in freckles and small silvery scars, from incidents across the years.

“Your legs are great Guy, but I don’t need to see them when eating dinner.”

“So, you want to see them some other time?” Guy answers cheekily. Jason throws a loose bandage at him, which hits Guy square in the back as he walks out to get some pants. 

Jason finishes focused on patching up the last few scrapes. He gathers up the First Aid kit and smirks at Hal’s red face. That makes him panic slightly, people smirking at you is never good, especially if they are an (ex?) Bat. 

He moves to the kitchen, switching on some song that Hal had never heard and pulling some trays out of the oven, immediately distracting Hal from any Bat-doom related thoughts he was having before. Holy shit that pizza looked _divine._ He watches as Jason transfers the pizza onto three plates, bopping slightly and he balances them to bring out to the living room. His careful work was wasted though as Guy bursts out of his bedroom at that moment, fully clothed as requested. He grabs one of the plates from Jason, twirling around and singing as he holds the plate.

 _“And oh, my love remind me.”_ He sang, swinging his hips dramatically passing the plate off to a bewildered Hal before dropping next to him on the sofa. _“What was it that I said?”_

And Hal? He was speechless. He had heard Guy sing before, always this awful screech designed to give him and Kyle a headache. John was the only one with the common sense to create earplugs when hearing it while the rest of them suffered. 

But this? This was good, a deep rich singing voice, that sounded almost effortless as Guy pranced around, grinning and spinning. That mixed with his whole performance and lopsided grin? It was making Hal _feel_ things, things that he had tried (and mostly failed) to repress.

Jason joins them, settling down into the armchair and crossing his legs, shoulders shaking with giggles as he balances his plate on his legs. The position is a little awkward, Hal doubts he’d feel comfortable in it himself but each to their own, he supposes.

“You can sing? Nicely?” He asks, which only makes Guy grin wider, the freckles at the corner of his eyes crinkling into smile lines.

“Yeah, he can.” Jason comments lightly, reaching over to give Guy a gentle shove. “He just doesn’t because he’s a little shit.” Guy backs the statement up by snickering and shoving him back.

“I’ll sing properly for ya when you agree to do a duet with me, Jace.”

“Fuck no.”

“Why not? You have a great voice, I heard you in the shower last time I was earth side.”

Jason goes bright red and resorts to grumbling and shoving pizza in his mouth while Guy cackles. They’re comfortably close both physically and in the way they act, and it’s entertaining to watch. Guy interacting with people he likes is always fun to witness, he becomes cheeky and funny in a very carefree outlandish fashion. It’s obvious that Guy cares for Jason, constantly teasing him and leaning over to mess with him in little ways. But he also seems slightly gentler than he does usually, hugging him and making him laugh.

Jason cares for him too, in a softer way than he would expect from the man, if his vigilante reputation is anything to go by. He leans into every hug or touch that Guy gives him, which is a lot. Guy is one of the most physically open people he knows, if he likes you, he will touch you constantly, holding hands, leaning on you, kissing your cheek. It often takes some time getting used to but Jason is clearly comfortable with it as well as receptive. He seems happy too, Hal doesn’t know what the kid was like before but he’s been smiling near constantly since he came into the bedroom. It’s sweet, out of all of them Guy has the least non-lantern friends so it’s good to see there is someone in his corner on Earth. It does confuse Hal slightly though, because the two seem so genuinely comfortable around each other but Hal has heard Guy even slip up and mention him. Even if he hadn’t been planning on telling anyone, Guy has loose lips, over time, he lets most things slip.

He clears his throat and looks at the two of them, who have now progressed into chatter about plants, Guy animatedly gesturing while his plate wobbles precariously in his lap.

“So, how long have you guys been living together?”

“Uhh I haven’t been keeping track, Jace?”

“You found me in September and it’s June now, so eight months?” Jason muses, Hal has to admit he’s a little intrigued by the terminology ‘found him’ but he can question that later. “No, not eight months, it’s been nine months.”

“Nine months?” Guy whistles, “Damn.”

“Nine months?” Hal repeats, even though the phrase is starting to sound like gibberish. “You kept him from us for nine months?” He asks incredulously. Guy looks slightly sheepish, flushing red, but Jason just watches, impervious, one eyebrow raised and the corner of his mouth twitching.

“I could have had this pizza eight months ago what the fuck Guy? You can’t just horde this to yourself!” He exclaims, gesturing at the pizza in his lap. He was either going to kidnap Jason to be his professional pizza chef or ask Jason to teach him how to make it. It was fucking delicious.

His outburst causes Guy to laugh though, a short bark that devolved into chuckles as Jason adopted a small proud little grin, laughing slightly when Guy kicked at his feet.

“So uh, how did you meet?”

“Guy found me sitting on a rooftop in the rain, and with complete disregard for Stranger Danger asked me if I wanted to stay the night. And then I just never left.”

“Okay first of all, I was careful, you were just sad and I wanted to help!” Guy argues, pointing at Jason with a slice of pizza.

“I could have killed you; you didn’t know.”

“But you didn’t.”

“But I _could_ have.”

The conversation drifts on from there, it was fun, they chat about idle things - Guy and Hal talk for the most part, Jason seems content to sit and listen, butting in every so often or proposing a new topic to talk about.

Hal enjoys it, usually his trips home were spent napping on his couch, talking to Carol and catching up with Barry or Oliver if he had the energy, Earth was kind of a regular pit stop rather than a destination, just somewhere to slow down and rest. But this was comfortable and calm - there was no pressure for things to be done and you were able to sit and chill without judgement.

Hal understands now why Guy had been antsy to go to Earth recently.

At some point, Guy has picked up the plates to take to the kitchen, stopping short on the way back when he passed the kitchen clock.

“Jesus fuck it’s late.”

“Mm?” Jason prompts blearily.

“It’s half past midnight.”

“Oh shit.” Comes Jason’s eloquent response. “I’ll get my clothes ‘n take the couch. You guys get the bed.”

“The fuck Jace hell no. I can sleep on the couch.”

“You guys only have one bed?” Hal interrupts before Jason could retort. “Where does the other person sleep?”

Guy looks at him amusedly, “We share the bed, it’s big enough and Jason likes hugs.”

“Well I won’t be getting any tonight because I’m taking the couch.”

“Not if I can help it.” Guy says, striking a very tired fighting pose.

Jason just looks unamused. “Okay first of all Hal is definitely getting the bed because he’s injured, that we can agree on but secondly I can kick. Hard. I do not want ‘sleep kicking an injured Hal Jordan’ to be on my list of crimes. I am taking the couch.”

Guy pouts defeatedly and grumbles in agreement, only looking slightly less annoyed when Jason hugs him and kisses his cheek before going to get changed.

Jason comes out a few minutes later wearing an oversized ratty sleepshirt and some baggy sweatpants (both of which are also definitely Guy’s) carrying a large pillow and three different horribly coloured blankets.

Hal has gotten off the couch, leaning on Guy for support, giving Jason space to dump them all down unceremoniously before moving over to switch the kitchen light off.

“D’you guys need anything?” He asks softly, voice getting more tiredly slurred by the minute.

“We’ll be fine Jace.” Guy replies fondly, leaning over to hip check him as much as he can while still holding onto Hal, “Go to sleep.”

“Mm.” Is the boy’s response before he flops down and buries himself in the blankets, out like a light almost immediately.

Guy manoeuvres them both to the bedroom, Hal is able to walk but his leg hurts like hell from the hit so it’s easier with help and gives Hal some stuff to change into.

“I don’ have a toothbrush for ya so you’re gonna have to suffer on that front, all good?”

“Yeah,” Hal smiles lightly, “Thanks Guy.”

“Brilliant, let me know when you’re decent,” then he smirks, “or before that if you feel like it.” he says, before kissing Hal’s temple absent-mindedly and leaving to the bathroom. 

Okay, Hal is way too tired to think about the implications of that. Instead he changes clothes, with a little more ease than the first time and shuffles over on the bed to fall asleep.

* * *

Guy was not panicking. He wasn’t!

It’s just that he kissed Hal on the forehead last night and somehow while they were asleep (in the same bed!) they ended up tangled together like a bunch of clingy octopuses and Hal was sleep talking _into his neck_ so he may be freaking out just a little.

Jason was decidedly not helping. He crept into the room using his silent ninja training and had Guy not opened his eyes for 10 seconds he never would have noticed. Jason softens when he sees Guy awake (which made his simple morning heart light up, they were making so much progress) but his face immediately morphs into the most perfect shit eating grin ever.

“Mornin’ Jace, sleep well?” Guy asks, hoping to avoid any embarrassing topics of conversation.

“Yeah, by th’ looks of it you did too,” Jason smirks.

“Shut up.” Guy grumbles.

“Your face is as red as your hair Guy, ‘M just stating the obvious.”

“Yeah, yeah. What are you doin’ in here anyway?” 

“Gettin’ clothes to go grocery shopping in.” Jason says airily, “Woulda gone in these,” he gestures to his rumpled sleep clothes, “But I figured, why not check on how you two are holdin’ up?”

Hal chooses that exact moment to sleep-grumble from his comfortable spot in the nook of Guy’s neck. Well, he’s never going to live that one down, is he? Guy supposes this is his karma for making Jason tell Talia about Kyle.

Jason looks like he’s struck gold. He drops down to kiss the top of Guy’s head, cackling silently.

“You boys have fun now; I’ll be back in half an hour.” He whispers, sneaking out.

Hal tightens his arm around Guy’s chest a bit and Guy decides that, apart from the drool on his collar bone, this definitely wasn’t the worst way karma could manifest. He adjusts himself slightly, trying not to jostle Hal, and relaxes back into sleep.

Who was he kidding, he didn’t mind the drool.

He wakes again an hour later, Hal still clinging to him like a large, cuddly koala and Jason singing softly in the kitchen. He uses his ring to gently extract himself, pattering blearily to the kitchen, hip checking Jason and switching on the coffee machine.

“Wha’s that?” 

Jason smiles, his nose scrunching up. “French Toast.”

“I love you.”

“Just for the food or?” Jason replies giggling slightly. Guy wraps his arms around the kid’s shoulders and dances slightly.

“Nah you’re great, but it’s a definite plus. Like, this is the most hipster shit ever but it’s great.”

“Thanks, but go brush your teeth your breath stinks.”

“I compliment ya and you just reject me? Tha's cold Jace.”

“I know someone who won’t mind your morning breath!” Jason smirks, voice getting louder as Guy walks away, he hears him laugh at the middle finger Guy gives him in response.

It’s wonderful to see Jason laugh and joke so openly, it's been a slow process, getting him to open up and be comfortable but it has paid off. Jason seemed more relaxed and a _whole_ lot happier than he had when they met. Hell, Talia had told Guy so, the first time they had met.

God that was a fun time. Jason had been really worried that Guy was going to say the wrong thing and that Talia would order assassins to kill him (dramatic bastard) but Talia and Guy got on surprisingly well. She was rather grand and dramatic, but she had a subtly wicked sense of humour which Guy appreciated. She also seemed very interested to hear about Kyle, Guy would have felt sorry for Jason having to listen to him and Talia gossip about his love life if he hadn’t been having so much fun. She also gave them fancy tea which was a plus. 

(Jason had decided to _fucking microwave_ the tea the next day which made Guy confiscate it. He wasn’t a tea snob or anything but watching a sleep deprived Jason put expensive tea in their shitty microwave filled him with uncontrollable disgust and felt like a personal attack.)

It was clear that she loved Jason as well, which made Guy happy - the boy needed some people in his corner especially after so many hard rejections and years of loneliness. Guy was certain that deep down, very, very deep down, the Bat still loved Jason but it wasn’t a healthy love and it didn’t present itself in a way that didn’t hurt Jason. Besides, no Bats have come a-knocking and Jason has pretty much moved on, he still has his low points, which is to be expected but he had realised that the relationship was hurting him and that it probably wouldn’t get better.

He has Roy and Kori and Guy and Talia and now Hal. Guy isn’t blind, he knows Hal likes Jason and he knows, if he ever stops procrastinating on introducing them, that the other Lanterns will like Jason too. They’re his family, and hell, Jason feels like family as well now, it's a slightly odd family but a functional one and that’s what counts. 

He brushes his teeth quickly, noticing that Jason bought Hal a toothbrush, and heads back to the living area.

He stops short next to the bedroom when he sees Hal moving inside, finally waking up.

He opens the door and watches in amusement as Hal sits up, shirt riding up, hair sticking up at odd ends and his chin still wet will drool.

_Cute._

He starts when he sees Guy, eyebrows knitted together and nose scrunched, looking nothing like the effortlessly handsome, cocky flyboy image he puts up. He looks adorable, in Guy’s opinion, and soft in a way that Guy has seen him act only a rare few times around the lanterns, he tightens up his act on Earth, in front of the Justice Leaguers that he isn’t friends with, which Guy understands, superheroes can be an extremely judgy bunch. It does make him feel a small sense of loss whenever he interacts with this version of Hal and not the version that panics over the other Lanterns getting minimal injuries or stresses over whether he should be allowed to buy Kyle or Jess alcohol.

“Guy? What time’sit” He mumbles, stretching. Guy will shamelessly admit he doesn’t look away.

“‘Bout 11? You got a lie in.” That makes Hal pout slightly, he’s never been a morning person, as much as he tries otherwise.

“Tha’s late. How long have you been up?” He says, as Guy moves over to help him stand, he’s steadier this morning, should be walking fine soon.

“Only ‘round 10 minutes. ’M not much better than you.”

“Fuckin’ early bird.” He grumbles, looking at Guy’s non sleepy features. “Jas’n?”

“He's been up for hours, went grocery shoppin’ and everythin’.” 

That just causes him to grumble some more as they settle down at the kitchen bar. Jason hands them French toast before digging into his own wordlessly. Honestly, if Guy weren’t hopelessly in love with the sleepy dumbass next to him and if Jason weren’t weirdly pining after Guy’s co-worker, Guy would have married Jason. Not for love or anything, Guy adores Jason, but platonically, but for the food alone. And he’s heard that there might be tax benefits which is a plus.

What he means to say is, as always, the food is delicious. 

Hal seems to agree with him. “Is there anything you can’t make?” He says while shovelling French toast in his mouth slightly ungracefully. Jason looks on, half disturbed, half amused.

“Pudding.” Okay so, he didn’t expect there to actually be an answer.

“What?”

“I can’t make pudding, or trifle. Any deserty type thing like that. They always turn out shit when I make them.” Jason shrugs, drinking his coffee.

And suddenly Guy is struck with an idea. “Let’s make some together!” He’s met with two blank stares. Okay, he’s had worse reactions, he can work with this.

“Guy did you not just hear the part where I said they always turn out shit?” Jason asked, one eyebrow perfectly raised. That was definitely something he had learned from Talia; he had seen her do it too. Although unlike Talia, who just uses it to convey amused frustration, Jason uses it to hide that he is sometimes a human disaster.

“You’re not gonna be the only one makin’ it, we all make some and then we judge it - it’ll be fun.” Now he was selling the idea! Jason looks halfway convinced. Hal still just looks sleepy.

“Sure. Why not, I don’t have anything planned. But you gotta buy the ingredients, I don’t wanna go shopping again.” Guy beamed, watching Jason crack a smile too and leaned over to hug him.

* * *

Once Hal finally fully woke up and finished stuffing his face with concerning amounts of French Toast, the day was pretty calm. He could walk by himself, the residual stiffness and pain that stopped him clearing up. Jason was surprised it happened that fast, Hal decided it was because the Gods were sparing him from having Guy try to carry him bridal style to the toilet more than once, it was probably just help from the ring. Either way his dignity was saved so he wasn’t complaining.

Jason checked his injuries again after breakfast, but not before his face turned red from Hal singing praises about breakfast.

“‘M beginning to notice a theme here.” Jason comments, while checking Hal’s stitches.

“Yeah?”

“All three Green Lanterns I’ve properly met seem to really like my cooking, for some reason.”

“That’s cause it’s good!” Hal replies. “Wait. Three?”

“Yeah, I worked with Kyle a while back, for a couple months. Once he realised, I wasn’t gettin’ in the way of his crush on Donna he enjoyed what I cooked him.”

“Hm. Yeah I remember him mentioning that once or twice. Kyle’s a pretty decent cook though, so it’s high praise from him.”

Jason ducked his head and laughed softly giving Hal some arnica balls to swallow. Hal could see why Guy liked him, he was slightly awkward in a cutely confused way you would not equate to the Red Hood but he seemed genuinely nice and nothing like Batman’s portrayal of him. Which wasn’t surprising, Wayne may be genius level but he was crazy judgemental and Hal generally took his opinions with a grain of salt. He knew what Spooks said to his clan and allies about him and Guy, and while it made him angry to hear some of the things, he said he saw no real need to change it. He didn’t interact with Hal outside of League business and he saw Guy even less. 

But to think he was saying this stuff about someone who used to be his kid (Guy was very adamant that it was just _‘used to’,_ Batman’s relationship to Jason was something of the past.), Hal thought that was just fucking awful. Hal saw, from a distance, how the Robin’s death broke the man but he had directed his grief into tearing into the new, resurrected Jason and that was unforgivable.

Hal of all people knows death changes you. 

He remembered thinking that, if that poor Robin came back to life, he would be different. He would never be what Batman wanted so badly to get back. He’d be harsher, shaped by the trauma of what he suffered through. He knew the boy would have been almost a completely different person - dying so young imprinted monumentally. 

But different didn’t mean bad. Hal never spent much time around the kid, Batman was always cagey, but he could recall the kid being goofy and chipper, amazingly open and happy for a child who had already seen so much. He was already rough, a burst of curly hair, sharp elbows and a strong accent, but he had been overwhelmingly happy and proud.

Jason now was quieter; his accent is more subdued but it was noticeable when he got tired. He’s still bright and happy but in a softer way.

He’s harsh and sharp, entertainingly quick witted in a way Hal knows could be vicious if used in battle. He’s more tired yet more emotional, there are soft stress lines on his forehead and circles under his eyes.

Jason has the same personality but it’s stronger and more mature in a way that looks like it twists it completely and while it’s wonderful it’s not what Batman was hoping for so he struggles to accept it. And by doing so he alienates Jason and hurts them both to the point where Jason is forced to move on.

Huh. That was a whole lot of psychoanalysis. Maybe he should quit the Corps and become a shrink.

Jason finishes up and gives him the remote before moving to the table and flipping his laptop open. Hal is absent mindedly flicking through all the shitty daytime television programmes when Guy bursts through the door in his usual obnoxious fashion, swinging around the shopping bags on his elbows as he moves around.

“It is hot as Satan’s balls out there Jesus fuck.” He announces setting the shopping bags down and taking off his shirt, balling it up into a slightly damp lump and chucking it into the bedroom. Hal can see a good amount of scars from where he’s sitting, recent burns and cuts as well as several faded ones from Guy’s youth, most notably, extremely faded top surgery scars that wouldn’t be noticeable if Hal didn’t know they were there. He has stretch marks that wind around his hips and spine and clash with the other silvery scars and freckles that trail down his shoulders, Jesus, Guy was really covered in freckles, they were _everywhere._

Jason just silently tosses a towel at Guy, who used it to wipe the sweat off his face. Hal tried not to stare. Key word in that sentence being _tried._

“Hey Jace, we should get a summer blanket.” 

Jason snorts. “The fuck is a summer blanket?”

“A thin blanket? Made of cotton or some shit.”

“Guy, we already have thirty two normal blankets. _Thirty fucking two._ We aren’t getting any more blankets. We can’t get any more blankets; my sanity can’t take it.”

“I gotta say.” Hal pipes up, snickering slightly at Guy’s look of sadness, “That is a bit excessive.”

Guy’s face switches to the most offended expression Hal has seen lately and it causes him to completely lose it. The whole situation is ridiculous, Guy standing in the middle of his own house, shirtless - having an argument with the Red Hood about the reasonable amount of blankets to own, It’s not something Hal ever expected to witness, but he’s nonetheless glad that he did. He was absolutely going to bring this up next time Guy was being too obnoxious.

Guy just mock sulks and moves to the bedroom, not to get a shirt, like a normal person would do, but rather to get several blankets and dump them on an unsuspecting Jason. Hal watches as the boy squawks in protest, almost falling out of his chair. Once he’s pulled off all the layers off his head he glares at Guy before wrapping the blankets around his torso, despite the sweltering heat. Guy tugs at them indignantly.

“Nope.” Jason grins sweat evident on his forehead. “Mine now.”

In the time he’s been around them, Hal has noticed that a lot of their spoken interactions are either soft and caring or gentle bickering and acting childish. He hasn’t really ever seen Guy act like this, sure he gets immature when he’s tipsy or purposely annoying when he feels like it but this seems less like immaturity and more just being able to be dumb and have fun without any consequences. It’s good, he thinks, from what he knows, neither of the men in front of him had particularly positive childhoods, both grew up quickly, albeit in different ways, so it’s nice that they get the opportunity to let loose and have fun now.

(He doesn’t know why his heart warms when he realizes Guy is comfortable enough with Hal to show this side of him.) 

When he zones back into the situation, he sees that Jason has relented, and Guy now has one of the blankets around his neck as a cape and the other two draped over his arms. He’s standing in one of those stereotypical hero poses - reminiscent of what Supes was pictured doing in his early days. He looks endearingly stupid and Hal finds himself chuckling fondly.

Things deescalate after that; Guy puts the blankets down and unloads his shopping. He flops down next to Hal on the sofa, watching idly as Hal flips through the channels. Jason migrates to the kitchen to make them instant ramen for lunch before resuming whatever he was doing on his laptop. 

He tries to ignore the fact that Guy is still shirtless, he’s seen Guy’s torso many times before, the man wasn’t the most modest of the Lanterns. Still for some reason he feels odd at the prospect of sitting next to a shirtless Guy Gardner sitting next to him in a casual setting.

The day crawls by slowly. They don’t really do much apart from sit around and play cards. Guy wins once, Jason wins twice and Hal is proud to announce that he wins five times, using several different strategies because he knows what Jason is trying to pick up on. Habit from playing with Bats.

They order takeout from a Thai restaurant that apparently opened up last week, which Jason is curious to try. He leaves to pick up the food on his motorbike and Hal and Guy listen to him speed away through the open window as they stand around.

Hal’s leg is getting better and the bruises are clearing up, he’s itching to go out and fight again but he called John this afternoon, who sternly told him, with backup from Kilowog and Kyle, that under no circumstances would he be back in the game for at least a week. Sometimes he hates that people care about him enough to let him not get hurt. 

Guy walks to the kitchen and grabs two beers offering one to Hal who gladly takes it. They drink in silence for a while before Guy picks up his phone and switches on some music. It filters out dimly, Guy’s water-damaged phone speaker making it crackle slightly.

Guy hums along to the song, bopping and dancing, starting to sing along once he’s swallowed his beer.

 _“I see this life, like a swinging vine, swing my heart across the line.”_ Hal watches him, transfixed. His voice is rough but clear, you can hear him smiling as he sings and moves around.

As he moved to the pre chorus he motions to Hal to join him. Hal shakes his head and leans on the bar. 

“C’mon Jordan,” Guy says, breaking performance “There’s nobody watchin’.”

Hal shakes his head again and Guy shrugs and resumes singing, conversation seemingly over.

 _“Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.”_ Guy belts, grabbing Hal’s hands and pulling him forward. Hal lets out an undignified yelp and tries to stabilise himself while being forced to dance slightly to the rhythm. Guy grins at him unashamedly, light sparkling in his eyes - natural green right now since his ring is sitting on the counter.

Guy spins them around, noticeably careful of Hal’s injuries but somehow carefree, still singing and smiling and holding tightly onto his hands. The brilliant gold of the setting sun is shining through windows, illuminating Guy’s hair and eyes and he moves their intertwined hands back and forth.

He looks overwhelmingly beautiful.

Hal knows that thought shouldn’t surprise him as much as he does, he’s noticed that he's been thinking thoughts on a similar vein to it recently and trying his darndest to suppress them. The thought does surprise him though, although it doesn’t feel unwelcome.

Guy isn’t conventionally attractive. His features are harsh and a little bit disproportionate. He’s littered with scars and drunken tattoos and other markings in awkward places, they clash on his skin, looking blotched in some areas and making themselves sparse in others. He’s not cut out of stone or marble like most of their co-workers, doesn’t look like he’s been modelled out of clay like Diana. He doesn’t need to be, a Lanterns job doesn’t have a serious need for physical strength, but rather strength of will. It’s not to say that Guy isn’t strong, he’s got muscle, but he also has a nice dad bod that’s good for hugging. His face is covered in stress lines and smile lines and he has near constant dark circles under his eyes that stand out against his pale skin, cons of being a redhead.

But Hal thinks he’s fucking beautiful. Guy has these adorable freckles that span his entire body, especially in the summer. His nose crinkles when he frowns and his natural eye colour shines in all natural light. When he smiles his whole face lights up and it’s hard not to smile back. Guy is tall and broad shouldered and stubborn and he’s unabashedly proud of himself in a defiant way that makes Hal look on in awe. His mouth is overly expressive to the point where it conveys so much in a single moment, pushing his cheeks up as he grins lopsidedly making the red tint at the top of them more prominent. He’s beautiful in the way that he doesn’t give a shit out of spite, which shows in the little actions such as dancing stupidly in his almost empty apartment to the big things, like refusing to let his family misgender and belittle him, even if it means he has to cut all ties with them. He’s got a small bit of patchy stubble next to a stretched scar on his lip and it’s taking Hal a lot of effort not to kiss it.

 _Wait._ What the fuck? Hal starts, brain screeching to a halt. He forces himself to keep moving slightly to whatever rhythm Guy was leading them in, adamantly staring over the man’s shoulder.

He wanted to kiss Guy Gardner. Why did he want to kiss Guy Gardner? More importantly, why did he find Guy attractive?

Months and years of unconsciously repressed memories come floating to the surface as he frowns and tries to make sense of the situation.

 _Holy fuck._

_He has a crush on Guy Gardner._

Has had one for a while too apparently, he realizes, looking back on his memories. He’d just pushed the feelings down or been too busy to analyse them. That was the downside of being a superhero space cop, you didn’t have time to be in touch with your feelings. Or maybe it was just a him thing, he wasn’t sure.

Back to the problem at hand, nothing like realizing you’re into the person who you’re dancing alone with to make you panic and space out.

“Earth to Hal, you good?” 

Hal jumps slightly and refocuses, looking up at a concerned Guy, his brow furrowed but there’s a light in his eyes that looks more fond than serious. He snorts when Hal blinks dumbly, a short gesture which Hal feels in the shaking of Guy’s chest more than he hears.

Scratch his previous statement, Hal is in _love_ with Guy Gardner.

He is so fucked.

Guy is still looking at him concernedly and Hal stumbles to reassure him.

“I’m fine, just remembered something.” They are still holding hands, Guy leans in a bit and pulls their arms up to meet his shoulder, rubbing his thumb on Hal’s palm absentmindedly.

“Left your oven on at home?” He teases.

“Something like that.” Hal mumbles.

Jason arrives, miraculously in time to save Hal from embarrassing himself further. He shakes his windswept hair and shrugs off his boots, grinning at the sight of the two of them.

“Have fun while I was out?” His arms are laden with takeout bags and Guy breaks away to help him. On one hand it’s a relief, Hal was struggling to keep his cool, battling with his newly realized attraction towards the man holding his hands, but on the other hand he misses the warmth.

Oh god it’s been about five minutes and he’s already smitten.

Jason locks eyes with him before his eyes flick down to notice Hal’s blush and he grins wider. He makes no comment though, thankfully, just offers him a pat on the shoulder as he passes by.

Hal is justifiably pre-occupied during dinner, but he’s just aware enough to know that Jason is enjoying his turmoil slightly too much and Guy is completely oblivious, thank the Gods. While they’re eating, Guy is sprawled in the armchair - legs over one arm and leaning on the other, leaving Hal and Jason to share the couch. However, when they finish Guy moves to clear up, still insisting that Hal doesn’t have to help, and Jason immediately switches to the armchair, tucking himself into it in a way no man with his build should.

Hal glares at him but Jason looks back innocently. Had he been doing this kind of stuff the whole time? Had the whole ‘don’t let me kick Hal’ reason just been an excuse? And leaving them alone in the apartment together? Hal wouldn’t put it past him as an accomplished assassin and former Robin.

Guy comes back then, stopping short when he sees Jason in the armchair.

“Sneaky fucker, I was sittin’ there.” Jason just maturely sticks his tongue out and reaches out for the remote. Guy sets up the film (some new animated movie Helen or Howie had probably mentioned to him) and flops next to Hal on the couch.

It was ironic that that helped to calm his thoughts. But the action of just sitting close to Guy was something he was accustomed to, it felt normal and comfortable and reassuring in a way that allowed him to shut his mind of and simply be. Guy is a constant that Hal can rely on. He’ll be there rain or shine, fighting out of spite and standing by Hal’s side. Sitting in a cluttered apartment with the man he was in love with and an ex crime lord watching shitting kids’ films like it was the most normal mundane thing in the world.

He shifts closer to Guy and they end up in a position where Hal is leaning most of his body weight on the other man’s side. Guy's arm is slung over him and his thumb was rubbing gentle circles into his forearm. It is a little awkward to settle into because Guy has kicked his feet up onto Jason’s armchair in a half-hearted attempt to annoy him and he refuses to move them. But after they stopped shifting Hal doesn’t mind, leaning into Guy as his energy slowly drains and he starts to doze off, expertly ignoring the small part of his brain that was overanalysing and having a Gay Panic.

About what he assumed to be three quarters of the way through the movie he is still leaning on Guy, eyes closed but still pretty awake, listening to the sounds of a corny, child friendly battle go on in the background. Suddenly, though, he hears the TV shut off before feeling Guy look down and huff, making his heart stutter. It was slightly overwhelming what he was noticing now that he could link a feeling to it.

He hears Jason groan and then there's a thump, which probably means he crawled out of the armchair.

“I’ll get ready, need any help with your Sleeping Beauty?” 

“Nah, you go ahead.”

They sit still for a few minutes after that, Hal can faintly hear Jason pottering around in the bathroom with the ear not pressed to Guy’s shoulder. Jason comes back after a bit and Hal cracks his eye open slightly to see him signing something to Guy who hums in response.

Suddenly Guy stands up, lifting Hal with him. There’s a green glow that Hal can pick up, Guy must be using his ring to help him. Hal feels himself float and settle in one of Guy’s arms, a construct still present to steady him.

“Try not to hit his hip on anything.”

“Yeah, yeah Jace.” Guy retorts fondly.

“He’s cute when he’s asleep.” Jason muses. Hal doesn’t doubt that he is fully aware that Hal is awake so he’s a bit confused as to what Jason’s playing at.

To his immense surprise, rather than laughing Guy replies by sighing softly and brushing a few stray bits of Hal’s hair. _What?_

“Yeah. Night Jace.”

“Night Guy.”

And this is about the time when it hits him that he and Guy have to share a bed. A fact that he had completely forgotten about which is really not working with his newfound need to carefully avoid circumstances where it might seem like he and Guy are a couple. Never mind that he just spent almost an hour leaning on the man's shoulder and the fact the only person here to judge was Jason. This was just exactly _not_ the situation he needed to be in while still processing everything.

He wonders if he’s going to get any sleep tonight or whether his brain would keep him awake.

Guy sets Hal down on one side of the bed and pulls the covers up over him before leaving to the bathroom. That’s two days in a row that Hal hasn’t brushed his teeth, his imaginary dentist would be so disappointed. 

He lies there and stares at the ceiling for a while, listening to the noises of the tap running across the hall and trying to shut his brain off and sleep. Start tomorrow on a clean slate, eat good food, try to convince John to let him back on duty and apparently try to seduce Guy, now that he knows that’s a thing he wants to do.

Guy shuffles back in tiredly and Hal closes his eyes again, although he doubts Guy is awake enough to notice. He lies down, staying firmly on his side of the bed, lying on his side away from Hal, curled up slightly. He doesn’t pull the duvet up high and Hal can see a criss crossing of scars where his shirt has ridden up slightly, faint in the dark. Hal listens to his breathing even out; watches his back rise and fall as he slips silently into sleep.

When he thinks about it, it does make sense that he unknowingly fell in love with Guy, of all people. Guy, to him, represents something achingly familiar in a softly exhausted but hopeful way. He’s the comfortable nostalgia of the past mixed with a hope for something better soon. He reminisces without shame but looks to the future with a laid back excited attitude that manages to calm the world down. In his own way he’s relaxed and easy going, he doesn’t worry as much as other heroes, isn’t doomed to immediately think the worst. But on the other hand, Guy is an extreme. Hal has seen Guy’s rage; he’s seen him be so consumed by anger that it becomes force that fuels him. He’s seen the man rant about the treatment of people and animals and such random unrelated stuff with a roaring fire in his green eyes and care in his heart. He’s seen him stick by his beliefs with a passion that rivals Batman’s stubbornness and argue his views unwaveringly when he sees fit. 

He’s intense and brash and a little rough around the outside but he cares _so much._ Hal has watched him play games with little alien children to take their minds off horrors they’ve had to witness and looked on as he softens his demeanour when dealing with traumatised people and creatures. He is unwaveringly open about being trans and looks out for the trans kids he meets on earth with a confidence Hal wishes he had. He’s seen the way Guy acts with Jason, fond and teasing, allowing the boy to let loose and have fun in a way that his previous experiences haven’t allowed him to.

Guy’s defining feature is that unabashedly cares for the people he loves and the people who have it a little rougher than the rest. He’s a reminder of the past and something that grounds you to the present and reassures you for the future wrapped into one beautiful abrasive headstrong person that Hal is in love with for good reason. 

He doubts that his friends would agree with him on that but let them judge. 

He’s in love with Guy Gardner and his lopsided grin and freckles and the way he snorts when laughing and there is nothing, they can fucking do about it.

Guy mumbles and stretches in his sleep, turning over so he’s facing Hal. His expression is mostly smoothed out, except for his bottom lip which is jutting out slightly and his nose being a little scrunched but other than that he’s expressionless, there’s no way to tell what he’s dreaming about.

Apprehensively, Hal shuffles closer to him, turning to face him. Their faces aren’t far apart at all, Hal can feel Guy’s breath on his nose and cheekbones as he moves, can see his lashes flutter ever so slightly as he tries not to jostle the mattress.

Somehow, Guy’s subconscious doesn’t seem to mind whatever Hal is trying to do, quite the opposite, in fact. He lets out a small sleepy sound (which Hal privately finds _adorable)_ and slings his arm over Hal’s hip, turning his face so it’s even more squashed against the pillow. The arm is a nice weight, grounding, but also pretty firm for someone who’s asleep. It might be a habit of sharing a bed with Jason, who mentions that he kicks and moves around a few times. Hal realizes he’s probably not moving out from underneath Guy’s arm anytime soon though, not that he wants to. 

It’s easier to fall asleep after that, listening to Guy’s breathing mix with the faint whirring of the kitchen noises in a steady pattern. His mind, slowly but surely winding down as he is lulled into rest.

* * *

Hal wakes up earlier than he ever feels he should have to. He spends his time, blood, sweat and tears saving the fucking universe and they can’t just let him sleep on this nice comfy bed for a nice, reasonable amount of time.

He lifts his head and squints before groaning and dropping his head back down. It’s too fucking bright for ass o’clock. He’s going to let his eyes adjust and then he can complain with accurate descriptions.

He is surprised when his bed makes a disgruntled mumble in response. Hal may be very tired but he is pretty sure it is a universally accepted truth that beds can’t talk. Looking down, he realises that his ‘nice, comfy’ bed is actually Guy Gardner. Sometime during the night, the two of them had shifted and Hal had ended up half on top of the other man, face buried next to his collarbone with his leg and hip thrown over Guy’s lower half. It really shouldn’t be as comfortable as it is.

Hal decides to repress his embarrassment at the situation for later and deal with whatever had the audacity to wake him up first. 

Looking up, Hal’s vision is filled with several harsh lights of conflicting colours lighting up the room. He really just wants to turn his face back around and avoid them.

He uses his sleepy brain to deduce the fainter colours are the city lights from outside, dawn is just breaking and the city is starting to wake up, bringing the sun with it. It would be a wonderful thing to watch if Hal weren’t grumpy, tired and pretty content to stay on his warm human mattress.

The red is from that god awful digital clock Guy has on his dresser, turned up to its highest setting with the sole intent of burning Hal’s eyes out. It’s garish and slightly headache inducing, usually the brightest thing in Guy’s bedroom so it’s surprising to see it overpowered this morning.

The strongest light is a green blaze, that upon first inspection, seems to be coming from Hal’s injured hip, which makes him panic, worries of alien infection flitting through his mind. Then he focuses and realizes it’s actually coming from Guy’s hand which is resting there gently, arm wrapped around his waist. That also makes Hal panic, but for a different reason.

Guy’s ring has always been the most interesting to Hal, it’s constantly active, spitting and sputtering green sparks, overloaded with will. It reminds Hal of Guy sometimes, the man is a ball of emotion, he wears his heart openly but is prone to snarking and having spats with people he doesn’t like. He has this calm but active energy, almost always ready for a fight. He only really relaxes if he trusts you and there isn’t a long list of people he does.

But for some reason, it’s super active at - Hal squints at the hell clock on the dresser - _5.42_ in the morning. Which either means Guy is having a sudden surge of will in his sleep, which Hal doubts, or someone is trying to get contact with him, a much more likely scenario. 

Either way, Hal is going to have to wake Guy up to get rid of the light, it’s giving him a small headache, even if it means having to lose his human pillow. That might be the best for everyone's dignity, actually.

“Guy.” Hal starts, shaking his shoulder, “Guy.”

“Mmh?” Guy replies, before turning away.

“No! Guy, wake up!”

Guy opens one eye before immediately snapping it shut again. “‘S too brigh’. Lemme sleep.”

“Your ring’s goin’ ‘ff Guy.” Hal sighs.

“Hm?” Now he seems interested. “Oh. I gotta take th’s. Wai’ a sec.” 

Guy slides out of bed, leaving Hal unfairly cold, and walks to the door, stretching. Hal can hear Guy begin to complain at the start of the conversation (“‘S 6AM John, the fuck?”) but after that Guy shuts the door, blocking out any noise. 

Hal sighs and turns over, attempting to get back to sleep, his headache slowly fading. Guy spends a good while out in the corridor, talking softly to John and Hal is pretty much asleep again when Guy comes back in, sighing and going over to the dresser to grab clothes.

“Wha?” Hal asks, his eyes tracking Guy’s movements.

“John called. Some big situation ‘s ‘bout to go down. Nothin’ crazy, I don’t think, but he wants me up there asap anyway.”

“Wha’ ‘bout me?” Hal pouts.

Guy grins, tired smile lines appearing next to his eyes. “You are on injured leave. Johnny’d kill me if I brought ya up.” He ruffles Hal’s hair and leaves the room. Muttering under his breath, Hal follows, this argument isn’t over yet.

He watches as Guy goes to the bathroom to do the most low effort useless version of brushing his teeth ever. He just sticks some toothpaste in his mouth with water and swirls it around for ten seconds. It looks disgusting and Hal doubts it actually did anything for him.

Guy moves to wake up Jason next, raising an eyebrow when he sees Hal out of bed. Jason is curled up in his makeshift sofa bed, blankets and pillows strewn around, none of them actually properly covering him. His mouth is open and he’s clutching one of the larger pillows to his chest. He looks incredibly peaceful.

Guy decides to poke him in the cheek.

“Fu’ off.” Jason groans.

“That’s not very nice Jace,” Guy admonishes, grinning.

“Whaddaya w’nt?” 

“Gonna have to call a rain check on makin’ pudding.” Jason cracks one piercing green eye open lazily signalling Guy to continue. From here it looks like it glows. 

“Got called up to Oa.” Guy explains.

There is a moment of hesitation before Jason ungracefully rolls off the sofa before steadying himself and moving to the kitchen, nodding to Hal on the way.

“Mornin’”

“Yeah it is.” Jason complains, Hal understands.

Jason begins pulling the boxes of leftover takeout out of the fridge, inspecting them and transferring some of the stuff into separate tupperware.

He looks at Hal. “You goin’ as well?”

“Ye-”

“No.” Guy interrupts. “You still needed support walkin’ yesterday, Hal. You’re not coming to Oa.”

Maybe it’s the gently firm way he says it or maybe it’s the fond look of frustration on his face, hell, maybe it’s the way he moves to squeeze Hal’s hand, ring flaring up, but Hal finds himself giving in and agreeing with Guy.

“Yeah, okay. Let me know what happens though.”

“Of course. Thank you,” Guy smiles, like Hal is doing some sort of personal favour by agreeing with him. “‘Sit alright if you stay here? John was pretty insistent I get there fast but I can drop you off in Coast if you want?”

“I’m good. If Jason is cool with that?”

Jason gives him a sleepy thumbs up and tired smile from behind a mug of coffee.

Guy claps, making them both jump. Jason glares at him and Hal flips him off.

“I’ll be off then, yeah?” Guy says, grabbing the leftovers. Jason moves to hug him, burying his face in Guy’s shoulder. The older man just laughs and kisses the top of his head.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll stay safe.”

Jason huffs and retreats back to the kitchen, switching on the stove. Guy turns to Hal and smiles crookedly, the pale yellow light of dawn surrounding him like a halo.

“See ya soon Jordan.”

“What? I don’t get a kiss as well?” He blurted out. 

Well, now seemed as good a time as any to hide and never show his face again, didn’t it?

Guy freezes momentarily before chuckling softly and moving to give him a chaste kiss on his cheek before hugging him.

His lips are soft against Hal’s cheek, it’s a cautious gentle gesture, almost as if Guy is holding back. Hal is torn between melting into a puddle of embarrassment and turning to kiss him on the lips.

God how he wants to do that.

“Try not to make life too hard for Jason.” Guy murmurs, hands squeezing Hal’s shoulders. The action feels intimate despite the fact that Guy just kind of insulted him. Hal can only find it in himself to nod and wish for more.

Somehow, Guy is completely oblivious to the fact that his face is as red as a fucking tomato but flicking his eyes over to the kitchen confirms that Jason is decidedly a lot more aware. He’s pretending to be busy with food but it’s hard to miss the shark-like grin on his face as he watches them. 

Guy suits up and clambers out of the window, waving to them as he flies off, the green of his suit clashing awkwardly with the fading colours of the sunrise

Hal watches until he’s gone from sight, and a while after that as well. He can easily imagine the expression on Guy’s face as he flies, a lazy half smile, tilted upwards to get as much of the morning sun as he can. To Guy, flying wasn’t the best bit about having the ring, he definitely didn’t find it as exhilarating as Hal did, but it was still something he enjoyed. 

By the time he tears his eyes away from the window the sun has risen and the sky is all blue sky and clouds. It’s a nice view, Guy’s apartment is high up so you’re able to see a nice expanse of high rise buildings and public areas with the backdrop of the sky. This window is more towards the West, the light of the sunset shines through brilliantly, dousing the entire living area in orange light. Hal would have appreciated it yesterday if he weren’t preoccupied with important realizations. 

The sunrise is more prominent through the bedroom window, which is in the direction of North-East, although the golden light is still visible through the living room window. It’s a lovely location and completely appeals to Guy’s tastes in the sort of loud domestic atmosphere he inhabits.

Jason burning himself is what breaks the spell he was under, what forces him to turn his head back to the kitchen where a highly trained vigilante and tired twenty-something year old is clutching his hand and muttering profanities in languages Hal can’t even begin to comprehend.

“You alright?” 

“Fucking mother of shit the pan’s hot. Fuck!” Jason replies eloquently. He’s heard stories of the Red Hood in action brushing off a lot more than a simple burn so it’s amusing to watch him freak out over this, in a slightly twisted way. But then again smaller injuries always feel like the most painful.

Hal snorts and moves closer to him, “Let me see.” He hopes he doesn’t sound too patronising.

Jason pouts and gingerly gives him his hand. It’s a pretty basic burn, compared to some of the other scars it seems like it shouldn't hurt at all. Perhaps his lingering tiredness is increasing the pain? Or maybe he’s just being dramatic. Roy had complained about him being a “dramatic fucker” once or twice, hadn’t he?

“Just stick it under the tap.” Jason definitely already knows to do that. Why is Hal doing this?

Jason just hums a little offkey. “The pancake is burnt.”

Burnt and well past salvaging unfortunately, just a crispy little circle in the pan. Hal pokes it with a spatula and it crackles. Jason frowns slightly from his spot at the sink, he seems tired, which Hal could chalk up to waking early and getting burnt but he thinks it’s something that runs deeper. In the few days he’s known him, the boy has had ever present dark circles under his eyes and he carries himself with an exhausted acceptance that’s become more noticeable since Guy left, around twenty minutes ago.

It’s a bit too early into the development to be making assumptions but Hal thinks Guy leaving abruptly and leaving Jason with someone who he doesn’t fully trust (yet, Hal hopes) can’t have been the best news to wake up to.

He’s also realizing that Guy might be more of a stabilizer for Jason that he lets on or knows. Not to an unhealthy degree, but Jason seems a little flightier now - Hal hopes to change that. He never really considered Guy the reassuring type, but he’s learnt a decent amount of new things about the man over the last couple days, why not add one more to the mix? 

He’s learning stuff about Jason as well, not that he knew much to begin with, you can’t get information out of Bats for jack and Roy is defensively cagey about him, which makes sense. He knows the general opinion on the Red Hood is awful at worst and wary at best, Roy probably doesn’t want to be stuck in another debate about the guy.

But, the man in front of him doesn’t carry himself in a way that screams slightly deranged zombie vigilante, nor does he act like it. If Hal didn’t know before, he would have assumed Jason was just some young existentially tired kid, who somehow ended up rooming with one of Earth’s Green Lanterns.

Hal scrapes the charred pancake mess into the bin as Jason finally gets bored of standing around letting his hand get wet. He sneakily re-commandeers the kitchen, Hal doesn’t even notice until he’s been booted out to sit on one of the bar stools, and continues making pancakes in a new pan, while the other one sits to soak.

“So, it’s, uh. Just the two of us now.” Hal begins awkwardly, Jason looks up at him with a raised eyebrow and hands him a pancake.

“Yup. I don’t have anything on for a while. ‘Nless T decides to stop by. You got anything you want to do?”

“Teach me to make pizza?” Hal says, his mouth full of pancake. Jason stares at him with an expression crossed between amusement and disgust, it reminds Hal that, even though the guy can be pretty informal, he did spend a good few years living with a very proper English butler.

“Sure, we c’n do it tonight. Gotta think of something to do with all the cream Guy bought as well. Fuck.” Jason muses, mostly to himself as he shovels pancakes into his mouth with an air that makes it look acceptable. Hal envies that, whenever he acts super confident, he just looks like an asshole.

Hal moves to the bathroom after that, which is where it sinks in that he hasn’t properly showered in at least four days. Jason either has no sense of smell or is very polite. And Guy, shit. Guy had to sleep in the same bed as him. Now that Hal thinks about it, they were in close quarters for most of Guy’s time in the apartment. He tries to ignore the blush seeping onto his cheeks and instead reminds himself that Guy has been smelling his stink for the past few days.

Luckily for him, Guy isn’t one of those rich or pretentious people with needlessly complicated shower controls. The first time Hal had showered at Ollie's house he was pretty sure his brain exploded by simply looking at the shower valves, there were so many, all for useless things. In the end he had to wrap a towel around his waist and get Ollie to come in and demonstrate. In hindsight he should have expected nothing less from Oliver Queen, but it wasn’t a pleasant experience to remember.

The only way that shower would have been more in character is if it would have had a special nozzle for shooting arrows.

Huh, that made him wonder if Batman had a Bat-Shower with special gadgets that automatically released body wash more expensive than Hal’s entire being. 

He stayed in the shower for longer than he should have, considering how his face was bright red and his fingers were wrinkled when he came out but it was worth it. He didn’t get to shower much between Lantern duties and he didn’t really need to either, the ring took care of the stink and dirt, but God was it nice to just stand under warm water and let the grime wash off.

He got changed into one of Guy’s less worn out T-Shirts and sweatpants. Jason had given him full reign over the drawer to pick out what he wanted so he finally got some pants with a drawstring. Guy hadn’t seemed to realize that Hal’s waist is a good bit slimmer than his, so all his sweatpants ended up hanging low on Hal’s hips. It’s good to have the security that his pants won’t fall down randomly (not that Guy hasn’t seen Hal in just his boxers but he’d like to keep up the illusion of decency, if only for himself).

He walks softly out of the bathroom and settles in the armchair and listens to the sounds of morning rush hour as he sips his coffee.

The novelty of doing nothing wears off after a few days, especially if your name is Hal Jordan. He’s flipping between sitting around in a bored huff and worrying about the other Lanterns. He hasn’t had any updates yet and he’s getting antsy. He doesn’t like not knowing, especially when there’s nothing to distract him.

He wonders if he can convince Jason to let him out of the apartment, something tells him the other will be hard to convince.

After what feels like days, but turns out to just be four hours, Jason calls him to the kitchen.

“Pizza time.” He says, tying an apron that says “Chop like it’s Hot” on it around his waist. Hal is Ninety-nine percent sure it was a gift from Guy. Hal stretches and walks over and is greeted with an apron with “Hot Stuff Coming Through” printed on it. He’s sure it’ll grow on him.

“It’s 2.30?” Hal asks, they’ve already had lunch and he’s sure pizza doesn’t take literal hours to bake.

“Doughs gotta prove.” Jason answers shortly, he’s gotten all the ingredients and has placed a weighing scale in front of Hal. Clearly, he’ll be expected to do the heavy lifting in this operation. It’s fair, Hal supposes, he’s the one who asked for a lesson.

Jason leads him through the steps patiently, leaning against the counter and sipping his juice as he does. He’s a good teacher, clear and calm and has the humour to laugh at a few of Hal’s worse jokes about kneading dough. He’s fun in a slightly quieter way than Guy, he reminds him of a younger more nervous version of John sometimes.

“Guy has a copy of the recipe on Oa if you ever wanna make it up there.” Jason comments. They’re both sitting on the bar stools letting the dough in a bowl.

“Really? I’ve never seen him make it.” Guy has a habit of cooking for them sometimes, whenever he gets inspired. Hal looks forward to those nights, Guy’s cooking is pretty good, not as good as Jason’s or Kyle’s but better than Hal’s or John’s, and those evenings always have a light atmosphere. It’s just the four of them (and sometimes Simon and Jess) being the doofuses they are with no repercussions.

“Yeah.” Jason replies, “It’s one of those things that Guy won’t ever make himself, says it means more coming from someone else.”

“That’s odd.” A very Guy thing to do, but odd.

Jason shrugs, “I don’t claim to understand it, but it gives you the opening to make it for him.”

“I don-” Hal begins but Jason raises his eyebrow.

“Why not? Guy’d be over the moon, he’d love it, ‘m sure the others would too. Gives you a chance to show off while you're at it.” Hal guesses he has a point.

“And if it turns out shit?” 

“We practise or figure out something easier. Persevere or whatever.” Jason says noncommittally. Hal stares at him.

Jason sighs. “I ain’t trying to make you into a master pizza chef, ‘m just saying, cooking for Guy is a pretty good way to get to his heart.” Hal is half convinced that he hears Jason mutter _“Not that you need to try,”_ under his breath. 

_Oh. So that’s what this is about._ Hal feels himself going red again for what feels like the eightieth time in these past two days.

“You, uh, don’t mind that I, uh, like him?” Hal asks awkwardly, the question feels stupid even before Jason fixes him with an unimpressed stare.

“Why would I mind, Hal? I’m not in love with Guy and you make him happy. Don’t hurt him or I’ll steal your ribs and all that bullshit but I don’t think you personally will.” Jason pauses then. “But just in case, don’t hurt Guy or else I will be forced to steal your ribcage. I feel like the better question in this scenario is: do _you_ mind that you like him?”

Observant motherfucker. Jason’s unnaturally dark green eyes study him as he freezes. There is nothing judgemental in his gaze, just curiosity and slight amusement.

“Only just figured out I was into him so. Still trying to process that.”

Jason hums sympathetically and says “Feelings,” as if it explains everything. In some weird way it kind of does.

With that their conversation seems to be over, Jason pats him on the back with Hal translates as a warning that Jason can and will annoy him about this, and then he walks off. 

He stops abruptly halfway to the bedroom, back still facing Hal, and comments “Although if the two of you finally decide to bone, warn me first so I can leave.” Hal can hear the smirk in his voice as his face heats up and he tries desperately to focus on Jason cackling than whatever images his mind is creating.

* * *

Jason is still giggling slightly when he enters the bedroom, Hal’s small noise of defeat really set him off.

Hal is nice. Jason is still naturally a little wary of him but he’s funny and hasn’t done anything awful yet so he isn’t going to keep his guard. He’s clearly smitten with Guy, even if he’s still figuring that stuff so Jason would have kept him around just to watch him flirt awkwardly anyway. He’s glad Hal does like Guy though; the redhead deserves that kind of love.

He fishes his phone out of his pocket, it's dirty, covered in flour and grease stains, so he wipes in on his hoodie sleeve. It doesn’t do much but Jason is too lazy to get the screen cleaner from the living room so it’ll have to do.

He flicks through his contacts absently, this action has become routine to him, he could do it with his hands tied. 

He lets his phone ring out on speaker, filling the room as he taps his foot nervously. He’s been letting his tells become more noticeable lately as he settles into an environment that doesn’t scrutinise so harshly. It’s both a blessing and a curse, on one hand he doesn’t feel constantly on edge and repressed but on the other hand he’s worried that if the habit slips into field work he might give himself away, he isn’t fighting amateurs, they pick up on things.

Eventually, the line connects and the phone is picked up. He hears a distracted voice on the other hand.

“Jaybird.”

Jason smiles. “Hey Roy.”

“It’s been a long time, how are things?”

“Good.” Jason answers shortly, “You?”

He hears Roy huff on the other line, it comes out a bit crackly through Jason’s old phone. “All’s fine, finished a mission a few days ago so I’m resting.” Roy pauses, “Listen I can’t talk for long, I’m picking Lian up from school.”

“‘S alright. How is she?”

“Great, got an A in her test last week. Misses her Uncle Jay though, you coming to visit any time soon?” Out of any other mouth the question would be extremely loaded but Roy just made it sound innocent and bemused, no strings or judgement attached.

“Don’t think so,” Jason replies softly, “You guys could always come down here though?” He says trying to hide the hope in his voice. He misses the two of them and Kori a lot, they haven’t met up in months.

“Not for a while, Jaybird. Got asked to help on a Bat case, seems big. You know they wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

“Oh. Are they all alright?” He may have separated himself from them, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be worried.

“Seem to be, none of them are looking into Red Hood as far as I know.” Roy hums.

“That’s good.” And he means it, it would all stay a lot less complicated if everyone stayed in their lanes and didn’t go investigating low lying crime lords.

“Sure Jaybird.” Roy sighs, “Just pisses me off you know? They’re supposed to be your family.”

“Most never really were. And I wasn’t a saint to them either Roy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Speaking of, how’s Gardner?” Roy was a bit surprised when Jason first broke the news of who his new roommate was but he was warming up to the idea, it got better when Jason managed to convince Roy he wasn’t being replaced as the main Ginger in Jason’s life. 

“Guy’s fine. Stopped by for a few days. Brought Hal with him.”

“As a date?”

“He wishes,” Jason laughs, “Nah, Hal got pretty badly beat up and he needed to drop him off somewhere. Guy left this morning, Hal’s still here.”

“They’re useless Jaybird.” Roy giggles.

“And we’re any better?” Jason grins back.

“Point.” He can hear Roy getting on the other end. He likes to imagine the two of them were just lying around on their beds like girls in 80’s movies. “I gotta go get Lian, say hi to Hal for me Jaybird.”

“Sure, and you say hi to Lian for me.”

“She's gonna be pissed that she missed you.” Roy agrees.

“Mm. Bye Roy.”

“See ya Jaybird.”

The call ends without noise and the phone screen shuts off, back to its usual cracked blank surface. Jason lies on the bed staring up at the ceiling. The analogy of him being the main girl in some Indie or 80’s film floats across his mind again.

He always feels better after talking to Roy, no matter how long the conversation lasts or what it’s about. It’s more to do with the way Jason finds a certain amount of comfort in old habits and routine, however much of a chaotic bitch he can be. He and Roy are steady constants in each other's lives and Jason has finally pushed through his abandonment issues enough to find the calm in it. They’d been through a lot together; he doesn’t think he could get rid of Roy if he tried. 

It’s both scarily similar and awfully different to his situation with Guy. Roy has seen him at his angriest, at the point in his life where he was willing to self-destruct over his hatred of the world and he has seen Roy at the end of his line, he’s seen the man cling desperately, near hopelessly at sobriety and supported him back up. They’ve stuck together through the most negatively intense moments of their lives and come out on top, becoming better individuals together.

And Guy has seen him at one of his lowest points too but in overwhelmingly different circumstances. If with Roy he sped up, releasing his emotions in an untameable fury that only someone with similar experiences could see through, with Guy he slowed down. They were two men, angry in ways that wore down on them daily, being able to stop and breathe. There were no pretences to be kept up, no judgements to fight. They could stop, slow let the weights they’d been carrying drop, piece by piece like chipping away at stone. There was no grand finale or outburst or confession but rather a quiet stream of opening up and letting loose.

Somehow these two redheads had come into his life and settled there and he may have protested as it happened but he couldn’t be more grateful now.

Sighing, he rolled off the bed, expertly landing on his two feet and walking quietly into the living area. Hal was lounging on the sofa, discreetly favouring his left side, if he thinks he can hide that from Jason he’s a fool.

Jason picks up the First Aid kit on the way to the couch, sitting down next to Hal and tapping the remote on his forehead to grab his attention.

“Pick something out to watch while I do this.” He says as a way of explanation, holding up the medical supplies for context. Hal groans but doesn’t protest, taking the remote and shrugging his shirt off so Jason can see.

For a short while they stay silent, the only noise is the clicking the remote makes when pressed as Hal browses. There’s a small frown on his face, it rests there like a natural position, his eyebrows are just furrowed enough to make him seem disgruntled.

Hal starts humming as he searches, some janky little tune from a supermarket ad. He stops suddenly, his whole body reacting. Jason scowls up at him.

“They put _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ on Netflix!”

“Great.” Jason says, a little grumpily as he picks up the supplies that fell off the couch.

“You don’t like it?” Hal asks, he sounds scandalised.

“Never watched it,” Jason replies shortly. It’s mostly true, he didn’t have a TV when it aired but he remembers seeing the episodes being played quietly whenever he went to the closest library outside of Crime Alley. It was attached to a makeshift day-care type of thing and sometimes they’d play kids programmes which he’d watch from afar. Never stayed for a whole episode though, and he could barely remember any of it.

Hal looks at him, lips pursed his expression becoming something unreadable before he nods, a look of determination settling in his eyes. “We gotta watch it then, let's see how many episodes we get through before they let me back on Oa.”

Jason shrugs, his way of agreeing before turning back to what he was doing. Hal is healing up well, the Ring accelerates the process slightly so some of the bruises have already turned yellow and Jason thinks the stitches will start to dissolve soon. The main issue was the stiffness and shock from being tossed around like a rag doll, and that’s not something he can just slap a bandage on but Hal seems to be pushing through in his stubborn fashion.

Hal settles on the couch excitedly, wrapping a blanket around his torso and batting Jason’s hands away.

“Shh,” he says leaning back, “Watch.”

Well Jason can’t argue with that, can he? He just straightens up and tucks himself into the corner, training his eyes on the screen.

* * *

It’s a grand three and a half hours later when Hal remembers they need to make pizza. They’ve gotten through seven episodes and Jason seems slightly entranced by the show. He’s leaning forward sitting cross legged with his elbows on his knees and there’s a small smile on his face as he watches the TV.

Hal will gladly take this win.

He pauses the TV, grinning at the almost silent noise of protest Jason makes in response. This kid. He gets up and stretches, wincing when he hears his bones pop. Jason watches his movements tiredly

“Pizza.” He prompts and Jason wrinkles his nose slightly. For someone raised by the Bat, his body language reveals a lot, it’s entertaining to watch. Small reactions and tell-tale gestures, Hal sees bits or both Roy and Guy in the way he moves. It’s nice to try and recognise but on the other hand it tells him that Jason was never really given the freedom to react. It’s a small thing but it makes Hal feel for him.

Jason splits the dough in two once they get to the kitchen and grabs topping from the shelves and fridge, creating a precarious tower between his hands and chin. They all come tumbling down when he turns to face the counter again but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Go crazy.” He mumbles before dumping a generous blob of tomato sauce on his rolled out dough.

It’s a quick process because of the way they work. It’s not exactly together, but nothing they do clashes and that mixed with the aim to get back to watching _Avatar_ as quickly as possible makes for a smooth process. The pizzas only take around five minutes to cook and they’re both settled on the sofa again in no time.

The pizza tastes really good. Hal is kind of surprised that something he helped make actually tastes nice. He’s the guy who burns instant ramen more often than not, so this really is a change. Jason tells him it’s good as well, which is what really solidifies it for him. He spends the rest of the night with a warm bubble of pride inside of him.

They spend the rest of the night watching _Avatar_ , getting up to ‘The Fortune Teller’ before calling it a night. Jason gently bullies Hal into keeping the bed, finishing his argument by throwing a pillow and staring at Hal until he leaves the room. When Hal checks a couple minutes later, he seems to be out like a light, face buried into a pillow. He suddenly looks a lot younger; Hal would think about it more if he weren’t swaying slightly on his feet.

He hates to admit that sleeping in the bed feels weird without Guy. It’s only been two days but he’s gotten used to the warmth the other man provides, and it’s odd to move around as the only weight in this bed. Hal finds himself pretty tucked into the blanket, despite the lingering Summer heat from the daytime. He shifts for a little while longer, rolling around and getting sufficiently tangled in the blanket before he finally, eventually slips into sleep.

He then wakes up some time around 2AM because today is really not the day for him to have a functioning sleep schedule.

He groans and slaps his arm over his face limply. He then groans again because that hurt. He doesn’t bother moving his arm for a bit after that, letting his senses wake up and adjust to the dark before he figures out why he woke up. For the second time in 24 hours.

It’s safe to say he’s a little grumpy.

Sitting up he shrugs the blankets off his shoulders to let them pool around his waist. As he settles upright, he hears an almost inaudible sniffling before there’s a resounding crash from beyond the door.

He’s up in an instant, mind whirling wit possibilities of what he’s going to have to face when he gets there. He rushes out of the door, ring blazing on his hand in front of him, fighting stance ready.

Only to be met with an extremely startled Jason Todd sitting on the floor next to a shattered mess that used to be a mug.

Hal reacts immediately, retracting his arm and rearranging himself into an awkward standing position. From where he’s standing, he can see that Jason is shaking slightly and there are lines going down Jason’s cheeks that reflect the rings light more harshly than the rest of his face, Hal realizes that they’re tear tracks.

He feels wholly unprepared for the situation he’s launched himself into.

Jason’s eyes are screwed shut and his hands are balled into fists at his sides, somehow, he missed Hal’s entrance.

“Hey,” He tries, wincing as Jason full body flinches and his head tilts sharply up, eyes blazing a searing lime green. It’s unsettlingly unnatural, when John or Guy’s eyes glow green there’s some show of warmth or determination behind it. Jason’s eyes seemed detached and cold, toxic but intriguing in a terrifying way.

He relaxes when he realizes it’s Hal, his body still tense and tightly wound but no longer afraid, his eyes dim down a fraction, he doesn’t seem so hauntingly scared.

“Shit. Sorry.” Jason breathes. He’s still surrounded by ceramic shards, that seems like a problem to get out of the way first. Hal constructs a dustpan and brush to clear the mess up, sitting down opposite Jason. He tries to smile encouragingly.

“It’s no big deal. What happened?” He asks. He’s cautious, unsure whether Jason will retreat behind his army of walls that he built up or lash out at Hal.

“Nightmare.” Jason answers shortly, gripping the ends on his shirt. Doesn’t explain the broken mug but Hal won’t push.

“Do you get those often?”

“I guess. Less lately. Guy helps.” His voice is croaky and hasn’t been raised above a whisper for the entire conversation. He still sounds shaken, but less so than at the start.

An idea strikes Hal.

“Do you want to call him?”

Jason looks like he very much wants to but shakes his head. “Don’t wanna bother him.”

“Wouldn’t bother him, Jason. ‘Sides, I want to talk to him as well.” It’s a weak excuse but it does the trick. Jason nods exhaustively and slumps slightly, leaning against the cabinet door behind him. Hal shuffles next to him and lights up his ring. Jason leans into him slightly.

“Hal?” Guy’s voice came through the ring, a little projection of him floating appearing above it.

“Uh- hey.” Hal feels Jason snort softly next to him.

“Isn’t it like 3AM on Earth, what are you doing up?”

“It’s 2. I couldn’t sleep, wanted to check on you guys.” Guy softens and smiles.

“‘S a bit hectic but alright Hal, no need to worry.”

“I think I’ll be the judge of that,” Hal replies playfully. “What was going on anyway?” He tactfully doesn’t mention Jason slowly leaning more of his weight on Hal

“Sector wide invasion in 1756. Lanterns are short on staff, a couple injured, a bunch on missions. some on scheduled leave. They wanted as many hands on as possible.”

Hal itches to be up there with him. With them. “Is everything good now?”

“Invasion is stopped, all the fighting's done and dusted just diplomatic stuff now. I’m hangin’ around for backup. Hopefully, it’s smoothish sailin’ from here.”

“That’s good. You alright?”

“Right as rain Jordan.” Guy grins. “How’s Jason?” The boy in question lets out a sleepy mumble in greeting.

Guy raises his eyebrow. “The two of you havin’ a midnight snack party without me? All good Jace?”

“All’s fine.” Jason mumbles dropping his head back on Hal’s shoulder.

“Good to hear. Injuries all okay?”

“Yeah, Jason said I’d be fine in a couple days.” Hal smiles, listening to the boy’s breathing, “He also said I’m a better patient than you, cause I don't try and fly off when he’s not looking.”

“Little shit. Musta forgot about the stunt you tried to pull this morning. Really Jace?” Guy grumbles.

Hal looks down to see that Jason has somehow been able to fall asleep between listening to their back and forth. He’s resting his entire weight on Hal’s side and his tongue is ever so slightly poking out of his mouth.

“He’s asleep.”

Guy snorts lightly. “He have a nightmare?”

“Yeah, woke up to him sitting on the floor crying.” Hal remarks, he’s a bit startled by how in tune the other two are. Guy really didn’t need much to figure out what was up.

“You’re good with him.” Guy says, his voice is gentle and musing and Hal’s heart aches to hear it more often.

“Not as good as you are.” Hal argues, he receives a distracted hum in response.

“Guy I-”

“Gotta go, sorry Hal.” Guy interrupts apologetically, “Stay safe.”

“You too,” Guy offers him one last smile before the line cuts off and Hal is left sitting on a cold kitchen floor with Jason Todd sleeping on his shoulder.

He sighs and picks Jason up with the help of a construct, laying him down on the sofa and tickling him in slowly. He picks up a few of the stray pillows and puts them on the coffee table. There's a small green glow that Hal can see through Jason’s eyelids as he lies sprawled out in the awkward position Hal set him down in. It’s definitely not normal and Hal is certain that the kid isn’t a metahuman so he wonders where it came from.

Settling back into bed, he feels that he drifts back to sleep easily, and leftover panic wearing off and draining his energy. He finds that, as he drifts off, that worries are eased but he still feels exhaustingly conflicted.

* * *

By the time Guy comes to pick him up (a completely unnecessary but endearing gesture) Hal has convinced Jason to make pizza two more times and teach him how to make cupcakes. The cupcakes are a less successful endeavour, but not bad enough that it doesn’t stop Jason from shoving two tins of cupcakes at Guy when he arrives. Sometimes Hal gets the impression that Jason has the spirit of an 80 year old grandma stuck in a tired undead 22 year old's body.

“Ya have fun without me?” Guy asks as they fly away from the apartment.

“Yeah, introduced him to _Avatar: The Last Airbender.”_ Hal replies.

“Please don't tell me you’ve turned Jace into a cartoon fanatic.” Guy groans. Hal doesn’t understand what he has against cartoons. That doesn’t mean he can’t irritate Guy with them though.

“Sure have! He loved it! I’m thinking I show him Steven Universe next, that sound good?” Hal teases.

Guy groans and shoves him. Hal decides he isn’t going to be the bigger person today and shoves back. They end up wrestling in mid-air as they fly upwards, both of them laughing uproariously, hair wild. Hal is sure they look like a sight.

They don’t really let go of each other for the whole journey there and neither of them mention it. It’s a comfortable unspoken thing built upon a foundation that Hal doesn’t want to destroy.

He tries not to think about how Guy never denied him coming back to visit and he tries to ignore the warmth in his chest as Guy loudly chatters about Lantern goings on, arm snaked firmly around his waist.

And yet, despite his best efforts of ignoring it, he relishes in the contentment he feels. It’s something he’d fight wars over to keep.

He knows it won’t last forever; he hopes he’ll be able to experience something similar. 

Hal guesses he’ll just have to enjoy it while it lasts.

**Author's Note:**

> maybe they will do things in the next part. maybe not who knows. comments and kudos are appreciated, thank you so much to everyone who's liked this series so far, it means a lot :)  
> check out my tumblr [starboysdcdumpster](https://starboysdcdumpster.tumblr.com/)


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